Saturday, May 30, 2009

Bidders aiming for chance to eat with Warren Buffett

05/29/09 8:00 PM PDT

Bidding for a lunch: An annual auction to sit down with powerful investor Warren Buffett starts next month, with proceeds from the event benefitting the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. (AP File Photo)

SAN FRANCISCO — He’s worth nearly $37 billion, is responsible for some of the most influential investing methods in the world and commands an almost messianic following, but deep down Warren Buffett is still a kid at heart.

That description comes from a Mohnish Pabrai, a Southern California investor who had the chance to grab lunch with Buffett last year — an opportunity that will soon be extended to someone else. An annual auction to sit down with the powerful investor starts next month, with proceeds from the event benefitting the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco.

Along with his friend, Guy Spier, Pabrai put up $650,000 to meet his idol as part of the charity, which has raised $4.3 million for Glide, a local nonprofit organization that serves low-income residents. Having put up the highest bid for the event in 2007, Pabrai, his wife, two daughters, and Speir sat down with Buffett for a lunch in New York City last June.

“My two daughters ordered hamburgers, and Buffett told them that anything they left on their plate, he would eat,” said Pabrai, who is based out of Orange County. “It was amazing that, even at 78, he still is very childlike and innocent, yet also an absolutely brilliant man.”

Pabrai said he talked with Buffett for three hours during their lunch together, with topics ranging from managing philanthropy foundations to how much one should leave for a tip after dinner.

“I had someone videotape the lunch for me,” said Pabrai. “And I watched it later and realized we talked about 54 different subjects.”

Buffett agreed to do the charity with Glide 10 years ago, and the auction quickly became so popular that it moved to eBay in 2003.

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